Tales of the abyss:Rebirth
by Windraider
Summary: Luke was given a chance to rewrite things. Now armed with the memories of the future, he sets out to right the present and save the future from a threat much greater then Ven. Similar storyline at first, but drastic changes later on.
1. Chapter 1

**This fic is more of a fun one that came to mind. Eitherway, I'm not sure how it'll go, but whatever.**

**This is just meant to be the first chapter after all.**

**OOOOOOOOOOO**

Luke awoke with a violent shock. "WAAAH!" He cried out in panic, taking deep breaths to calm himself. "Wha—what happened? How did I get back here?" He asked himself.

Looking around, he found himself back in his room. "My room? How did I get back here? Last thing I remembered was—" He was gathering his thoughts when something knocked.

"Master Luke, your father is looking for you." A girl's voice called.

He recognized it as one of his maids that usually tended to him. "Coming!" he replied as he got up and went to put on his shirt. Reaching for his usual shirt, he noticed something brushing his back. "Damn it's annoying!" He thought as he reached for it and yanked it.

"Ouch!" He cried out as he turned and saw that it was his hair. "What the? Why's my hair long again?" He wondered as he realized that his hair was back to its original length before he had cut it.

But before he could pounder on it, there was another knock on the door. "Master Luke! Your father demands your presence!" The maid called again.

"Coming!" He instinctively called out. "I'll worry about it later." He told himself as he got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked exactly like how he was before he left the manor.

As he walked down the hallway, he started to wonder something. "What's this strange feeling I'm getting, it's almost as if there's something very wrong here, but I can't figure it out." He wondered.

But just as soon as he wondered about that, a sudden burst of pain erupted within his head. "AHHH!" He cried as he clutched his head. "What's—what's this? Lo—Lorelei?" He asked.

"Luukkeee..." The ever so familiar voice replied back within his head. "Head my voice." It called out to him.

"I'm here Lorelei, but how and why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the fon belt?" He asked.

There was no reply from the sentiment. "Lorelei! What's going on? Tell me!" He pursued the case. Thankfully there was no one around him, or they might think that he was going mad.

"Luke, I must inform you of something." The sentiment began.

"What is it?" He eagerly asked.

"I—I—I have sent you back in time to stop a calamity from happening." The voice replied.

At those very words, Luke let lose a scream which shook the entire house. "?"

"A terrible calamity happened immediately after I was released, one I was not able to foresee. It resulted in the destruction of the world five years later. I returned your memories from the future to give you a second chance. Use it well." The voice told him as him as he broke contact.

"Wait! What calamity? What's going to happen? Lorelei! Answer me!" He desperately tried calling it back, but to no avail. Moments past, but still answer. A maid came looking for. "Master Luke, the duke demands your presence." She reported to him.

"Understood, you're dismissed." He told her. As soon as she was gone, he turned and headed for the dining hall. On his way there, there was only one thing on his mind. "Am I really back in the past?" He asked himself.

He got his answer the moment he arrived in the dining hall. "Luke! I demanded your presence three times already! I hope you have a proper explanation for your actions." His father demanded.

But the real form of his answer came in the presence of the man he thought he never see again. "Master Van! What are you doing here?" He instinctively asked.

"Haha! I was just here visiting the duke for some business." He casually replied. "I'm going to have to go look for fon master Ion temporarily. As such I won't have much time to train you." He told him.

"Oh that's all right; I'll find something else to do meanwhile." Luke replied. Part of him was feeling weird, he felt like he was just given a chance to change everything again from scratch. And in a manner of speaking maybe he was.

"Haha! Don't worry about it Luke! As a form of compensation, how about I train you extra hard today?" He offered.

"Sure thing master Van!" The young noble agreed to it like before. "This marks the start of my adventure if I recall, now all I have to do is wait for her to come." He smiled as he thought of meeting one of those important to him again.

"Meet me in the courtyard in a few minutes, I'll just settle some last discussion about with the Duke first." He told him. Needless to say, Luke was already gone.

"I got to get some money for the trip!" He went to his room, and from there. He opened and took out his personal stash of gald. "Now I'm all set for the trip." He told himself as he readied himself.

When he arrived at the courtyard, he wasn't surprised to find Guy and Van talking to one another. "Oh yeah, Guy was friends with master Van, and they don't separate until later in the future." He recalled as he entered their presence.

"Hey guy! What are you doing here?" He asked as he joined them, even if he already had a suspicion about it.

"Oh Luke! I—I was just asking Van for some advice regarding my swordsmanship." He came up a lame excuse.

"Luke! How about that training lesson of ours? Time wait's for no man after all." Van chuckled.

"Sure thing Master Van!" He agreed as he took out his weapon.

And over the next few minutes, Luke once again repeated his training scene in front of his master by sparring with a dummy. It was nothing special, now all he was waiting for was for her to arrive. "HYYAAH!" he cried as he destroyed the training dummy.

"Excellent work Luke! You've progressed a lot faster than I thought." Van praised him as he handed him a towel for him to dry off.

"Thank you master Van!" He gratefully took the towel and proceeded to dry himself off, but as he did that, a soft but soothing voice entered the fray. He dropped the towel and fell to his knees. "She's here!" He eagerly awaited for her appearance.

"Vandestacal(Forgive my spelling)! I've finally found you!" Tear called out as she appeared on the roof. "Prepare yourself!" She challenged as she leapt down onto the courtyard and rushed him.

"I knew it, I knew it had to be you Mysterica.(Spelling error I guess)" Van grunted as he clutched his head.

"Stay away from Master Van!" Luke cried out in defence as he intercepted her with his blade.

Her staff and his sword clashed, and in turn, they started glowing golden. "A hyper resonance?" Tear cried out in shock.

"It's here!" Luke eagerly waited as he waited for the two of them to be transported away. "I've got a second chance to make things right, and this time round, I'll do it so that no one important to me get's hurt!"


	2. Important note

**An important note I forgot to mention.**

**During the month of November I have been busy with NANO so all my fics are close for the month until December, so I apologize!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Now it's been a long time indeed, but I was just confused and lost to the point I forgot about this story, oh well.**

**If anyone's still keeping track, than thanks a lot.**

* * *

"It's been a long time since I was here. I can't believe I was even given the chance to come back." Luke chuckled as he glanced up towards the moon.

Indeed the ever so beautiful sight of the flowers in Tataroo Valley was actually in bloom in front of him. Something that wasn't there the first time he had arrived. He let out a sigh as he continued to stare at the moon, secretly hoping that deep down it would tell him just what was it he was supposed to do next.

He wasn't surprise that he would end up in the same spot as he previously did along with Tear.

Sitting down in field of flowers, he looked up at the moon, wondering many things. He wasn't afraid of fighting anymore. His powers he previously obtained had been restored, his body was stable and he could use hyper-resonance as he wished too now.

The only things he lost was his second order hyper-resonance given to him by his original and the key of Lorelei. With the two powers missing, he wasn't able to pull out his full power, but nevertheless, he was confident that the current him was still a match for anything and anyone.

Even against his Original.

A shuffling from the side bought his attention back to the world. He had completely forgotten that he wasn't alone. Alongside him, was his former comrade, Tear Grants who was still unconscious from the hyper-resonance.

He smiled a serene smile. It was hard to believe that now the roles were reversed. In the past, he was the one who needed to be awoken by her, but now he was the one who was going to wake her up.

Unlike before, the hyper-resonance this time round didn't leave him unconscious. In fact he stood conscious even through the whole thing unlike his 'friend' here.

Off course he didn't bother to wake her up, enjoying the feeling of being alive once more. Never before had he actually feel this good, other than the time when he nearly died at the tower of Rem but lived afterwards, and that was why he didn't mind waiting a few hours before waking Tear up.

"Hey you all right there?"

She let out a groan as she shook her head. It took several seconds before her eyes suddenly snapped wide open.

"Hey are you all right? You've been sleeping for four hours."

A part of him was sadden by the fact that the Tear in front him had no memories of the future and the events they went through together, but he pushed that part away. He had already knew that no sacrifice no victory.

Whatever he had done in the past was not enough, his actions hadn't been enough to save the world. Somewhere along the way he knew had done something wrong, and that something led to the world's demise five years later.

Part of him knew that he shouldn't be blaming himself. He knew that he had done everything he possibly could have to save the world, in the end, it just wasn't enough.

If he had to be given a second a chance to fix the mistake he would gladly accept it. To him, having to live with knowledge of the future was but small price to pay for his mistakes.

It was a great blessing, but also equally big a curse and a burden. Even in the future, he was shown to have little knowledge of the world when compared to people like Jade, Natalia and even Guy. For all the good knowledge of the future will do if he didn't know to use it. He was afraid of keeping the knowledge a secret, but was also afraid of revealing it. He was at a loss. Until he knew what he needed to do, it was too dangerous to just tell anyone.

Lorelei stated that the calamity happened 5 years after he had defeated Van, but he or was it a she never mentioned what the calamity was like or how to prevent it.

He guess he would have to wait for the next time Lorelei contacted him before he could ask anything.

"Vi—Viscount Fabre!"

He snapped back to attention. Tear was already back to her feet, she quickly tidied herself, not wanting to look disgraceful in front a noble. Back in this time, she was still obsessed with being a perfect solder. Inwardly it made Luke wonder just what was it everyone had done to help her break those nasty habits.

"Relax everything's fine Tear. Take your time. I'm not your superior in the first place, so you don't have to be so tensed around me."

"Umm…well, even still it's disgraceful for a solder to be left in such a vulnerable situation or so." She shyly looked away.

Luke mentally sighed, not knowing what he was going to do or say now, but whatever thoughts he had he quickly discarded them when she suddenly turned her attention back to him.

"Pardon me for asking, but how it that you know my name? Back during our encounter in the mansion, Vandelstca called me by a different name."

"_Oh snap. I forgot about that."_ He mentally scolded himself.

"Well, you can thank Master Van for that. I mean I did hear several stories and all from him, like you know, the six god generals? He told me in the past Legretta had personally tutored you, and that he was quite pleased with the results." He made that on the spot. Thankful for the memories of the future, were it not for them, he wouldn't have been able to answer that.

"My brother said that?" That was a clear tone of surprise in her voice.

"No he didn't." He muttered softly as he looked away. A part of him was quite irate that he actually had to mention his former master's name. While he was more than ready to accept fighting Van again, that didn't mean that he had lost all respect for him despite all he had done.

"_Guess I'll just blame those seven years worth of memories."_

"Pardon me for asking viscount Fabre, but how long have I been unconscious?"

"About three hours or so?" He just shrugged at her question. Immediately his lips curled into a smile as he watched her stuttered about before scolding herself for making such a mistake. Deep down he was somewhat annoyed that she had reverted back to her former solder self. It made talking to her much harder than before. He could just speak casually and all, but he didn't know she would react.

It was than did he realize something. He was actually even somewhat more restrained than before. Even while travelling with the others.

"_Strange, normally I would be more excited and impulsive than this. I would be asking questions one after another."_

Anyway, shouldn't we like try to get out of here? " He tried to change the subject and get back on topic.

"Ah! Yes, your right. Forgive me for my insolence." She quickly gave him an apology as she stepped forward onto the path.

"This might not be that important and all, but I thought I took the liberty to mention that I cleared out most of the monsters in the valley. I also skinned some of the monsters and took some ingredients and all." Luke suddenly brought that up, only increasing the solder's level of embarrassment.

Off course the old him might have had some trouble with that, but not the current him. With his new skills, he could easily rip through just about any enemy that came his way, excluding the ones at eldrant. That place was still hard for him, he couldn't solo that place alone even back in the past, and he was certain neither could he now.

Unable to bear any more embarrassment, Tear hasten her pace and quickly walked away from the field of flowers, Luke followed shortly, but as he did, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

"_Strange, I thought I heard someone calling me."_ He couldn't help but wonder as a gentle breeze caressed him.

"Viscount Fabre, we really should be going now." Tear reminded him.

"Yeah I'm coming don't worry."

Choosing to brush it off as his imagination, he followed after her, never noticing a cluster of fonons gathering in the very field he was leaving.

* * *

Despite all his knowledge of the future, old habits die hard. He couldn't believe that he hadn't even brought the money for the old man's carriage. He had been forced to watch Tear part with her memento of her mother's pendant again as a result.

That knowledge only it somewhat harder to face her in the carriage. Throughout the entire journey, he was somewhat disturbed, unable to look her in the eye even despite her reassurance that it was nothing.

Tear meanwhile was doing whatever she could to try and communicate with him, but all attempts had failed. She knew that he felt bad about her selling her memento, but she didn't expect him to feel this bad.

"Please do not blame yourself Viscount Fabre. I understand that you feel bad about me giving away a personal belonging off mine, but the fault lies with me in the first place."

"I know, but I understand the feeling of losing something important, even if it is a simple gift." He replied as he continued to look out the window.

To that, Tear had no response.

And so, the journey in the carriage became one of silence, at least until the Tartarus showed up, and the dark wings destroyed the bridge.

"Thanks a lot for the ride."

"Thank you very much for your assistance."

The two of them thanked the coach driver as he dropped them off at Engave like before. Together they bid farewell to him before turning back into the village.

"Now, what do you suppose we do anyway? I need to get back home, but the bridge is destroyed, and even we got past the bridge, I don't have a passport. I won't be able to cross the border." Luke stated as the two of them walked in.

Everyone there shot them a glance for a second before turning away.

"I suppose that much is true. I should be fine as I bought my passport along. However we too do have another issue."

"Is it the lack of funds?"

Off course, after all, despite being the son of a Duke, Luke always struggled with money back than as well. Since it wasn't his fault that his father was so stingy that he never spared a penny or so for their journey. The only who did was his mother. Just thinking about it, actually hurt, he had never wanted to lie to his mother back when he needed money, but he still did.

"That is correct. As things stand right now, it would be very hard to actually reach Kimlasca with our...funding." As a soldier and the one responsible for separating him from his family, she couldn't feel more disgraced than ever.

In the past, she was so angry and frustrated with taking care of his childish whims at all times, she had no time for these kinds of thoughts .

Off course Luke didn't expect something like this. Sure she wasn't angry or anything like before, but he couldn't tell if this a worried Tear was any better. He decided to try changing topics.

"Well whatever the case, I want to say thank you anyway for you've done."

To that, Tear's only response was to look at him with incredulous eyes. "What I've done? But I've done nothing but caused trouble for you. I've attacked your manor, and also ended spiralling you away."

"I've been trapped in the manor my entire life. Throughout all my life, today is the very first day I've ever tasted true freedom. Isn't that more than enough of a reason to thank you?"

"But—"

"No buts." He cut her off. "I say I want to thank you, so stop blaming yourself. You'll make me feel like I'm still stuck in the prison of a mansion."

"Yes but—"

"No! I said no buts. I'm grateful to it, so take your time. Because once I reach home I'll be stuck again, so that's why I want to appreciate this sense of freedom as best I can. Even if you never meant it, you still gave me the greatest gift I ever had, and for that I thank you."

Once again Tear had no response to his words.

* * *

It was rude and even more downright insulting to just leave Tear alone, but Luke needed to be somewhere. If he wanted to change the future, there was one event that had to be changed. It wasn't a major event, but it still led to complications in the future.

As he made his way to the Cheagle forest, he encountered some resistance along the way, but all the monsters that opposed him were quickly disposed off in one swing of his blade.

One thing that unsettled him was the fact that he didn't meet Ion as he entered. He knew that had entered earlier on, but he had somewhat expected to meet him along the way.

"_Maybe I'm just too early."_ He concluded.

Regardless, Ion or no Ion. He had something to do here, and he was going to do it. Walking down the ever so familiar road of the forest, he slowly made his way to the Chealgle's nesting grounds. Easily cutting down whatever monster foolish enough to oppose him.

Being here several times, it was easy to navigate through the forest. Within a few minutes or so, he had already reached the Cheagle's nest.

"Hello…"

He called out as he stepped into their home without thinking. Every Cheagle there stopped whatever they were doing to look at him.

"Excuse me, may I speak to the elder here?"

"Yes, how may I help you?" The elder cheagle stepped forth.

Luke couldn't help but smile at how adorable they were. It was hard to believe that the last time round he was here, he couldn't even notice something like this. Guess it just went to show that he really had mature in character.

"Hi my name is Luke, I just want to ask something. Have you been stealing the food from Engave recently?"

Off course if this was really the past he was familiar with, than the answer should have been obvious. But it was no harm in asking just to be sure

"Yes we are."

Well that settled it. He knew what he needed to do now.

"Why? Are you under attack or something? I thought that Cheagles weren't interested in human food and all."

"You are correct. We are indeed in danger." The elder looked away for a second.

"Ligers?" He tried to make it sound as if he was guessing. But from what he could tell, the words that came out from his mouth seemed more like a statement instead.

"Again you are correct. One of the younger Cheagles attacked and destroyed the Liger's part of the forest by mistake. Now in order to survive we have to steal from the nearby village in order to satisfy their hunger, or otherwise we will be eaten instead.

Luke pondered his thoughts for a second. The main objective he had was obvious, save the Cheagles and stop the Liger Queen's death. The first one was easy, the second one however was going to be harder.

Oh sure, killing the queen is easy, but if he did that, her daughter of the six god generals would haunt him and everyone around him with incredible zeal.

Off course if he were to kill her the first time round they meet, a lot could be prevented and all, but he rather not. He was sick of the bloodshed, he was tired of having to kill others just to live or even if it's to save the world.

After poundering for several moments, he made up his mind.

"Okay I think I'll lend you a hand. If one off you could go with me to translate their languages I think I can take care of it. I believe that as the sacred beasts, you should have a umm…what was the name of that thing again?" Luke crossed both his arms. Trying to recall what was the name of the ring that Mieu often drew upon its power for.

"The sorcery ring?"

"Ah yeah that's it!" He clapped both his hands together. Though immediately afterwards he turned away a bit embarrassed or so.

The elder looked up at him for a moment or so before sighing. "I hope you know what you are doing."

"I know what I'm doing. This isn't the first time I've seen Ligers before. I've seen and face them before, even the queen herself."

He didn't see the harm in telling him or anything. After all in the past, only he and Tear ever came here. Jade came for a few seconds before leaving, and he didn't even interact with anyone.

"In that case please take the Cheagle that burned the forest down with you."

"Wait!" He suddenly interrupted him. "Before I do, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"If by any chance the fon master comes by, please try to keep him occupy. I don't want to endanger him. And if possible, please refrain from mentioning about me. You would recognize him by his short statue, his green hair, and his feminine appearance despite the fact that he's actually a boy."

Off course, he didn't want Ion to get involved this time round. Negotiating with the queen would most likely come to blows, and if that happened, it would be best if Ion was away.

If there was anything he learnt from his last journey, words don't solve anything. His original was the best example of things. No doubt he would have to beat the queen down now if he wanted to negotiate, and it would be easier if Ion wasn't in the way.

"I see, so you came not for us, but for the sake of the Fon master."

"Actually…" Luke looked away. "I'm not doing it for him alone." Though he said that, he also didn't mention the fact that he really just wanted to avoid trouble in the future.

"Very well then." The elder nodded in approval. "Should the Fon master arrive, we will try our best to keep him out of danger."

"That's good enough. Leave the ligers to me." The son of the Duke assured him.

"Then in that case…" The elder turned around to face his people. "Mieu! Mieu! Over here Mieu!"

* * *

Meanwhile at the village of Engave…

Tear was fuming mad, but at the same time, she was stressed out. She had taken her eye of the young noble for a second, and the next thing she knew, he was gone.

She had searched high and low for him, but she found nothing. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.

"_I can't believe I made a simple mistake like that."_ She scolded herself mentally. For a solder to get distracted while escorting someone was perhaps the biggest mistake she had ever made apart from letting her guard down in front of an enemy.

As she romanced about the village, she noticed something. A commotion. A rather large one happening in front of the largest home in the village.

"Excuse me, but may I ask what is going on?" It was rude of her to just interrupt, but she couldn't help but wonder just what the commotion was that garner the attention of the villagers, and so she asked one of the locals.

"Oh never seen you around here? You a traveller or something?" One of the locals asked.

"Yes, something like that. I just made a stop over here to get provisions."

"Oh I understand." He nodded. "Anyway, turns out recently there's been a bunch of cases involving the disappearance of food. We asked a passing by Malkuth officer to take care of it, and he agreed to it."

This was news to her. As one of the Oracle Solders, she was most likely going to be all right. The main problem was Luke, who was the son of Duke Fabre, one of the most hatred enemies around in their country. Still she kept cool and continue the conversation. "So everyone's here to thank him?"

"You could say that. Apparently they found a clue which leads to the forest. The officer is just discussing some of the details with the village chief."

"_Whatever their discussing has nothing to do with me." _Or so she tried to convince herself. Turning around she decided to head elsewhere.

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, I thought I saw another individual leave the village not too long ago. He headed in that direction. Never saw him before, I'm sure that there aren't that any red haired kids here."

Immediately the final part of his words got her attention. She spun around immediately. "Wait, did you say red hair? Was it a boy carrying a sword?"

The man paused to think for a second. "I couldn't see if it was a boy or not, but I could say that he had a sword, and unusually it was sheathed behind his back, quite unusual, most people would sheath it by their sides instead."

That was all she needed to know. "Thank you very much." She thanked the villager as she turned around and made her way out of the village. Her new destination was the Cheagle forest. She swore that when she found him, she was going to give him one of Major Legertta's very own lectures personally.

* * *

"Fang Blade Rage!"

Forcefully inserting a sphere of energy straight into the belly of Liger foolish enough to challenge, he made it explode from within before swatting it away with his sword.

Another Liger leapt forth towards him, but he had already retaken his stance. As the beast dived towards him from the front, he got into position, waiting for the moment to strike.

"Swallow fury!"

In just an instance, he had danced behind the beast and kicked it into the air where he bombarded it with a bunch of kicks and slashes.

While his feet touched the ground gently like a leaf, the same could not be said for the liger who crashed hard into the ground.

"Well, I certainly don't remember it being this troublesome. I'm pretty certain that back when I was with Tear, we never ran into this many beasts." He mumbled to himself, taking a good look behind him.

A large number of beasts and monsters lay defeated at the ground. He had completely demolished them. It took some time and effort to clear out everything, but he had done so properly.

Wiping off the sweat on his forehead, he continued onwards towards the nest that was directly in front of him.

"Mieu, I'm going to need you to get ready to translate my words to the Liger Queen, will you do so?"

The little cheagle popped his head out of the item bag and looked up at him. "Yes, I shall do that!"

Taking a deep breath, Luke readied himself for the upcoming battle with the Liger Queen.

* * *

When Tear had arrived in the Cheagle forest, the first thing she was expecting to find, was not a whole bunch of dead monsters. One look told her all she needed to know, and who was responsible for this incident.

"Luke…" She muttered his name. She had previously imagined him to be a somewhat sheltered son who had no knowledge of the world or anything. But seeing the scene in front of her, she really doubted that he was anywhere near as simple as she had previously imagined him to be. She saw no hesitation in swinging his blade, one look at the corpses of the monsters told her that each and every strike was clean and direct.

His attacks held no hesitation. She knew that while he was skilled, she never expected that at the same time hewas at the same time this experienced. This only served to make Tear more determined to find him and get some answers from him.

"Okay, this wasn't the way I was expecting it to go." Luke gritted his teeth as he pushed his blade forth. At the moment, both he and the liger queen were in a dead lock. He had expected that he was going to fight with her, but he never expected the fight would take such a direction.

"_This is all that thing's fault." _He told himself as he tried to push the queen back.

Mieu just had to open his mouth and mention that he was the one who burnt her part of the forest down. That immediately got rid of all hopes of a negotiation.

Realizing that winning a deadlock with the queen of ligers was impossible, Luke decided to get out of the way instead.

"Swallow Fury!" He slipped underneath her large body and turned around where he executed a series of kicks and slashes as he ascended into the air.

However the Liger queen was not anything like her children, she was too big to be lifted upwards, all that hit was a series of light slashes that didn't do any real damage, but he nevertheless managed to get behind her.

The queen turned around whipping her tail around aiming to smash him with it, but Luke was faster.

"Raging blast!"

Sword attacks were ineffective against a hide as thick as hers, but raging blast was different. This technique mainly forces energy into a person's body. Having a thick hide won't do much good against this.

The liger queen let out a roar of agony as she felt her insides ripped apart from the force of the attack. She stumbled to the side, momentarily distorted. Luke took the time to step back rather than continue attacking despite the great opportunity.

"Mieu, I want you to translate what I say, and this time round, exactly as I say. I don't want the queen anymore angry than she already is."

"Yes Sir…"

The little Cheagle sadly popped it's head out of the item bag again. At the very least this Mieu was understanding to know when he had done something stupid or wrong.

"Tell her I'm not here to fight. I just want to talk."

Off course, he doubted that negotiations would go so well, but he had to try something.

In turn the queen simply responded with a terrifying roar that scared the cheagle into returning into it's bag.

"What did it say Mieu?" Luke asked, never lowering his guard at all.

"She says she's not going to talk to the one who burned her home down."

Luke went through several ideas in his head as he cursed inwardly. However all of those scenarios didn't seem like it was going to work and all. _"Guess there's only one thing left to do."_

"Mieu, tell her that I'm going to get straight to the point. Take your pack and leave."

Off course it wasn't going to work, but he had to lay out his wishes first, even if that meant angering her.

As expected the Liger queen did not take it well and instead resumed her attack once more, attacking him again.

"Guess that means I have to beat her first."

He didn't like to use it so early, but he recalled one particular event that was going to happen soon, and he had to finish this off before it happened.

As the Liger Queen pounced at him, he rolled to the side, sheathing his blade as he did. He needed to use his full power if he was going to subdue her.

"Didn't want to use it, but I guess there's no choice now."

As the queen turned around to charge him again, a large burst of fonons blew her away.

Covered with a slight glow around his body, the scion of Lorelei charged forth and met her charge. As the queen of ligers pounced at him, he raised his sword and blocked the impact. The charge forced him back several steps, but it was a small price to pay for the opening she had provided.

"Havoc strike!"

He jumped over the queen's claws in time as she attempted to swipe him and countered with a diving kick to her nostrils.

"Light Spear cannon!"

The noble followed up with a wide swing off his blade followed by a powerful thrust to its nostril again.

"….Huaaaahhhh…"

But he wasn't finished yet, following up on his attack he let out a powerful cry as a large torrent of energy burst forth from around him.

This was the power of hyper-resonance. A shinning pillar of blue erupted from the ground beneath him, swallowing the queen in its raging torrent.

"Now you…die!"

The force of the pillar exploded at his words. Dust and debris were sent flying everywhere from the force of his mystic arte.

When everything settled down, the Liger queen was on the ground paralyzed. Unable to get back up on her feet. The coughing she made indicated that she was still alive but wounded.

"…Yeash…" Luke let out a sigh of relief as he put away his weapon. He hadn't expected he had to use his mystic arte so quickly, but there was no choice. He had to put her down if he wanted to talk. Sheathing his blade, he looked to the cheagle in his bag.

"Okay Mieu, talk to her again. Tell her to listen this time round."

"Okay…" The Cheagle reluctantly popped its head out of the bag again to face the queen again. "Mieu…mieu..mieu, mieu…mieu…"

There was a stir from the queen's body followed by a growl.

"What did she say Mieu?"

"She said what do we want?"

Luke let out another sigh seeing that he was going to have to explain again.

"Tell her that it's really important that she leaves this area with her eggs."

"I understand meiu!" The Cheagle replied. "Mieu…mieu, mieu, mieu…"

This time round the roar that she replied with was much more forceful and terrifying. This time round, she forcefully attempted to push herself up to her feet. However her injuries were more severe than she had expected and almost collapsed on her own body weight.

"She says she refuses too. She would rather die first before she followed a human's order."

If there was one thing Luke was assure off, it would be that today he had set a record for sighing. "Tell her that if she doesn't move soon, an army is coming here, and they will exterminate her and every one of her children for endangering the people of Engave, even the ones who haven't been born yet will be killed."

"Mieu…mieu..mieu…mieu…"

One thing Luke noticed about himself was that he was more agitated than before. Granted he was quick to react too many things back in the past, but not like this.

When the queen roared again, Luke immediately asked the Cheagle what she said.

"She said she doesn't believe you. What do you really want?"

"Tell her it's because I don't want to deal with her daughter Ariettia afterwards. Tell her that I know her, and that I'm not doing this for your sake but rather some others."

Off course he had no idea if he was doing a smart thing or not using her daughter's name like that, but if all worked well, this might calm her down.

The reaction he was got was very unexpected.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but would you some fruit? We have a wide variety of selection here."

The Fon master was currently doing his best to politely decline the generosity of the Cheagles. He wanted to talk, but every time he tried asking a question or so, the little critters would cut him off half way.

He wanted to get some answers about what was going on in Engave, but he had no chance to ask the question.

"Excuse me"

A woman's voice cut through the air, everyone turned towards the entrance.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I have reason to believe that a young boy had passed through here."

The cheagles all looked at her for a brief moment before looking back at Ion. The woman followed their gazes and was very surprised when it came to him.

"Fon—fon master Ion?"

The woman was completely stunned, unsure how to go about this. She came here looking for Luke, but instead she found the fon master instead. As a member of the Oracle Knights, it was only natural that she recognized him immediately.

Off course recognizing him didn't make it easier to register his sudden presence in a place like this.

"Ye—yes? May I ask who you are?"

Immediately she snapped out of her surprise as she saluted him. "Oh my apologies! I am Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants, and-"

"…Mieu! I'm back!"

A child like voice interrupted her. Everyone turned to the side where a Cheagle entered from the same path the woman had. Everyone watched as the Cheagle floated through the air with support from a ring like device around its waist.

"Mieu, where is our guest? And what happened to the negotiations?" The village elder demanded.

"Mieu." The cheagle called Mieu raised its hands adorably. "The negotiations went well, and the Liger's agreed to leave us alone. However in exchange, that boy had to help with the transport of the eggs."

"Oh that's wonderful." The Cheagle elder cheered in approval.

However the two human visitors were completely ignorant of what was going on.

"Negotiations?" They asked together.

"Oh that's right." The elder turned towards them. "I guess we owe you an explanation."

"Yes, I came here to ask why you were stealing from the village of Engave." The Fon master inquired. Secretly grateful for the arrival of the woman who distracted them long enough so that he could asked.

"I suppose we could tell you now that it's just resolved."

Though he didn't know what was going on, he was able to understand the meaning of the word 'resolved', easily.

"May I ask what has been happening here?"

The cheagle elder coughed a bit to clear his throat. "Oh yes, you see, not too long ago, one of our kind accidentally burned down a part of the forest where the liger's live and as such they were forced to live in our domain. We had to steal food from the local village in order to feed them, otherwise we would have been the ones to be eaten up."

"That's terrible." The fon master sympathized with them. Clearly he was the type that allowed his emotions to get in his way easily.

Tear on the other hand was another story. "You said Liger's correct? If so than we are in more danger than we expected, especially with a village of humans so close. The moment there's not enough food to feed them, they'll come to attack the villagers themselves, hunting humans down."

"Thankfully the issue has just been resolved by a young lad." The elder replied, easily surprising the two of them.

"Yeah! He defeated the Liger Queen and told her to leave the forest. Which she agreed if he helped move her eggs, which he did." Mieu added up to his words.

"A young lad?" Both the Fon master and the Oracle solder asked together.

"Yes, It was a young lad with red hair wielding a sword. He had arrived here, offering us assistance. He said it wasn't for our sake, but rather for the sake of others. He told us that you were coming, and that we had to stop you from going to the ligers because it was dangerous."

Young boy with red hair wielding a sword. Those words were all it took to set of the alarms in her head. "Wait, was the boy's name Luke by any chance?"

"Yes that's correct." The elder turned towards her. "He offered to negotiate with the Ligers for our sake, and it appears that he was successful in convincing them to leave us alone."

"_Oh no…"_ Inwardly she groaned. She was supposed to be watching out for him, but not only had she failed in keeping an eye on him, he even managed to get himself tangled up in a dangerous situation like this.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Mieu…" Mieu like a cry as he looked away. "He said he was going to help the queen transport her eggs, and that's all. He said he'll be back later on. He told me to return first since there was no more need to fight."

"I see, so we should just wait here until he returns than?" Tear couldn't but ask.

"Yes, he said that the first thing he'll do after he finishes helping the ligers is return here."

"Then let's wait here." Ion suggested. Off course Tear didn't take that very well. Immediately she let out a gasp as she turned towards him.

"Fon Master! You can't just wait here. The woods aren't completely safe, and furthermore you aren't with your guardians."

She tried to convince him to return, but he simple shook his head.

"No, that man went on behalf of the villagers. I must thank him, it wouldn't be right to leave without saying anything of appreciation."

Clearly the Fon master was not willing to budge an inch. If he said that he was going to wait than he was going to wait. Left with no choice, Tear too decided to wait.

* * *

**Okay I'm sure there are spelling errors and all, but that's because I hadn't touch TOTA for a very long time, so please inform me lightly, and not flame me because of it.**

**Anyway, to those who actually take their time to appreciate the story, press the little button below and type in a few words please..**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't know why I didn't update this for a long time. But whatever, once again, I owe nothing.**

* * *

"Oh, I really hate that old man right about now." Luke muttered to himself as he walked threaded through the wide plains on nothing but foot. He muttered a string of curses continuously at that old colonel who even to this time made his life difficult.

Although thinking about it, part of it was his fault. He had chose to ditch Tear to head to the forest early and in turn didn't meet Jade. It was perhaps why that man was unaware of his presence.

He had left the Cheagle Woods not too long ago upon hearing that Tear and Ion had been taken away by Jade. He came to the woods to retrieve Ion, and arrest him and Tear together at the same time. However no doubt that this time round, he wasn't able to arrest him since he wasn't around. It would have seem that he decided to leave without him.

Still, knowledge of the future told him that the god generals were going to ambush them soon enough, and when they did, no doubt Jade would try to either take back the ship or head to Saint Binah to regroup.

His bet was the latter, but his objective now was the formal.

"Stupid Old man, what does he think I am? A horse? How am I suppose to catch up with a warship by foot?" Though he was cursing and swearing with every step, it didn't change the fact that he was making effort on his part to catch up with them.

Currently, he was on his way to two possible locations. First up was the area where the Tartarus was attacked, or second, Saint Binah where they were supposed to meet in case of an emergency. He never expected Jade to make such a move to leave without capturing him.

As he walked, he closed his eyes and thought back to how things ended up in situation.

"Wait, what? What do you mean they're gone?" Luke asked in confusion. He was away for over a few hours to help the ligers resettle, by the time he had returned to the cheagle forest, both Tear and Ion were gone. He returned the ring to the elder so that he could talk to him directly.

"Like I said before. Someone came and took them away."

"Who was it that did that? Do you know them?"

"I'm afraid not, however the fon master referred to him as Jade. He and his solders took away the fon master along with a woman called Tear."

Immediately he smacked himself in the head before letting out a sigh. "Oh god, how could I have forgotten about them?" Truly, despite all his knowledge of future events, some things don't change, like his inability to plan ahead properly.

He looked down at the cheagle elder. "Look, thanks for your help earlier on regarding the fon master, but I should be going now, I really need to catch up with them."

As he turned around to leave, something landed on his shoulder. He turned around and saw it was Mieu. "Mieuu...mieu... "

Off course without the ring, there was no way to understand what he was going to say. Fortunately the elder translated for him.

"The child wishes to travel with you. He tells me that you spoke on his behalf to the ligers, and that your protected him during the confrontation with the queen. Cheagles always repay their debts, and this time is no different, so to repay the debt, he will travel with you for the entire season."

Inwardly he smiled, because for a moment he thought that this time round he would have to travel without his little buddy, but it seemed that it was not the some planning, he just might be able to make a better relationship as compared to their previous one. He was going to make sure that there was no abuse this time round.

"If that's the case, then I accept!"

One thing that remained the same was that he was the master of Mieu, and he couldn't express how grateful he was for that. His services had proven invaluable in the previous journey, and he was sure now would be the same.

Five hours later...

"That's strange, I thought the Tartrus would be somewhere around here or so?" Luke couldn't help but wonder where it was. He followed the trail left behind by the land warship, but realized that it had gone further than he remembered it to be. For a moment he thought that perhaps the Tartarus had made it through without any danger,

"Master...where are we going?"

He looked down at the item bag where the little cheagle had popped his head out.

"We're looking for friends, but I think I might have missed them."

"Mieuuu...do you know where they'll be at than master?"

"I think so...but it's still a long walk away. I can only hope we'll make it there by the nightfall and not tomorrow."

"Is it that far away? Mieu..."

He simply stroked the cheagle's head as he changed directions. He looked about at the tracks the ship had left. Certainly he didn't remember the ship advancing so far. It looked like it was heading towards the borders.

"Don't tell me I have to walk all the way to the border?" A sudden realization he came upon. Even if he had memories of the future, not all of it could be relied on.

He had no real idea how time worked, but even so, he had enough common sense to know the meaning of altering the past means changing the future.

The fact that the Tartarus didn't stop where he remembered it to be was another issue. He wondered what could have happened to it.

Regardless, he had no idea what happened to it. However he still retained the knowledge that if anything went wrong, they would have to visit Saint Binah.

Originally the Tartarus was supposed to head to the kingdom of Kimlasca to deliver a letter to the king. His presence alone was a big help back then. Now it probably still would have been were he there with them.

But it was not a must have. It was merely a bonus. If the Tartarus got away from the attack or perhaps never was attacked in the first place, then the only location he could think where it would go is the kingdom of Kimlasca.

Though Saint Binah was another choice should they have failed.

"They better not have headed to Kimlasca directly, or I'm going to be in a lot of trouble." He muttered to himself.

He had a lot of room to cover, and very little time to spare, considering that he didn't have a warship to do half the travelling this time round.

* * *

"Is everyone all right?" Tear asked.

"I don't think so, after all I am an old man. My bones are too fragile for this kind of treatment."

"You look perfectly fine Colonel...but I could be wrong." Ion replied to his words.

The three of them were currently locked up in a cell. The fon master was no exception, mostly because there wasn't anywhere else to take him.

Earlier on, the group had attempted to retake the ship after the ambush of the God Generals.

Their plan was a near success. They had disabled the God General's defences and almost fatally wounded one of their commanders. Yet it was all for nothing, as they were unable to foresee the interference of Asch the Bloody who showed up just as they were about to retake the ship.

His presence had swiftly brought an end to their plans.

"Fon master, now is not the time for jokes."

"Oh! My apologies." The fon master apologized to Tear.

Looking to the colonel, Tear asked the question that was on her mind the entire time. "Colonel, do you have any way of escaping? I believe that as this is your ship, you must have an idea."

"Oh come now. What can an old man like myself-"

"Colonel! No more fooling around." Tear cut him off just as he used his sarcasm to further irritate them in this position.

Letting out a sigh, Jade pulled out his glasses and polished them. "Well...it just so happens that I did leave a safety measure in case of something like this. It will be cruel, but we have to abandon ship and travel on foot." He says while he polishes them.

"What about your men? Are you just going to abandon them?"

"They are most likely dead. The god generals wouldn't want to leave any witnesses behind." The Colonel replied.

Ion didn't like it, but he knew that was most likely the truth.

The soldiers that came with them were all either dead or captured. The former being the more likely case.

"Well what's this safety measure about Jade?"

"It's a password that shuts down all functions on the ship. It will also release the prison cells, allowing us to escape. However it will only buy us a few minutes at most. During this time, we must escape."

Tear frowned, she didn't find the odds very good. "Only a few minutes at most...this will be difficult."

"But not impossible. The sudden shutdown of the ship will leave many in confusion. I imagine the god generals will also be affected. Even if they pull themselves together faster than their soldiers, they still have can't do anything until they get the power back online. That alone would take some time even for the most skilled of fon technicians."

The precious time he mentioned would be crucial to their escape.

"Colonel, even if we do succeed in escaping, where should we go? Do you have a destination in mind?"

"Anise and I agreed on such a location should a situation like this ever present itself."

"Where is it?"

"Saint Binah."

Tear's eyes widen in surprise. A good place to meet up without a doubt.

That place was on Malkuth grounds. Even the Oracle knights wouldn't be able to just barge in. Though the problem was what was would they do afterwards.

There was also another problem.

Where was Luke Fon Fabre at this very moment? Because of the Colonel's lousy timing, she had ended up being separated from her.

She was in having conflicts between her sense of loyalty to her self-proclaim mission, and her responsibility to that red-head noble.

"Tear! Snap out of it! We're beginning the operation now." Jade's commanding voice brought her attention back.

"Understood!" She looked towards Ion and said. "Fon Master please stay behind me. We might have to fight."

"I understand." He nodded.

With his party set, Jade turned towards the energy bars barring their way. He tossed a small cube from his pocket towards it. The object dispelled the energy bars and he quickly ran towards a communication tube directly in front of them.

He spoke into the tube connection to the prison cell they were in. "By my name as Necromancer heed my command. Initiate emergency plan 'Corpse Hunt'."

Immediately all power to the ship was cut off. The three of them could easily hear the panic the soldiers were in.

"Remember. We quickly make a break towards the exit."

* * *

"Oh Lorelei. this is so boring." Luke couldn't but complain as he sat down in the middle of the road. It was still several hours away from Saint Binah. He was amazed that he managed to walk over fifteen miles on foot in a short period of time.

But he was still human. His stamina was at it's limits. It was why he had to take a break.

The cheagle companion of his was sitting on his shoulders trying to encourage him when he suddenly turned around.

"What's wrong Mieu?" Luke asked as he stood back up on his feet.

"I can hear something coming."

The boy turned around and looked down the road he was walking on. He strained his eyes and slowly but surely he made out a small figure in the distance.

"What is that?"

Slowly but surely the figure became clearer as it approached him.

"Mieuuu! It's a liger!" The cheagle panicked and hid behind his master.

Immediately Luke brought his hand to his weapon. Running away from a beast like that was near impossible. The only option was to fight.

As the beast closed the distance to a dozen meters or so, it suddenly came to a stop. The liger then proceeded to sit in front of him.

"What the? It's not going to fight?"

As if able to read his expression, the beast growled at him. But it wasn't a menacing one, if anything, it sounded playful.

"What's it saying Mieu?"

The Cheagle leapt off his master's shoulder and approached the animal. "Mieu...Mieu...Mieeuu...Mieu!"

The liger growled back at him. Mieu then turned back to his master and replied. "He says he's here to help us. He wants to thank you for saving his mother and his siblings from the army that stormed their home."

"Are you serious?!" Luke did a takeback. Never did he imagine himself befriending a beast like that particular God General would."

"He says he wouldn't mind accompanying us, and that he'll be happy to let us ride him."

It took everything Luke had to not grin. Inwardly he was still a child.

"All right then, you mind asking if it seen a huge battleship somewhere around here?"

"We need to hurry. Once they get the power back on, catching up to us will be an easy thing."

"I understand. Fon master, please hang in there for a while longer." Tear requested of him.

The three of them had successfully managed to escape from the Tartarus, however they were still in danger. The only means of transport they had was walking. And compared to a battleship, they might as well have been snails.

They needed to find shelter and fast. The problem was that the Tartarus had been travelling in a very wide and opened area. There was simply nowhere to hide.

The only hope they had was that Jade's particular trick had brought enough time before the ship restarted it's engines and chased them down.

"How in Lorelei's name did I not notice them? I mean they were right next to me the whole time!"

Luke didn't know hurt more. The fact that the Tartarus wasn't far away from his current location and he didn't notice it, or the fact that he wasn't even sure if his friends were even still there. What if they had escaped and he didn't know it? What if he was just going to run in blindly into a fortress full of Oracle knights?

"_No! Focus first!"_ He told himself.

Despite the serious situation, he couldn't help but enjoy the ride his new Liger companion was giving him.

He made the first changes to history. Now Arietta wouldn't come after them for revenge. The problem now was how to introduce Ion's true identity to her.

The girl was probably the easiest to talk too among the God Generals. In a way, Luke actually pitied her for living a life being manipulated by his Master.

"Hey Mieu, do you think you can ask him how far is it to the Tartarus?" The noble requested of his cheagle companion sitting in the item bag.

"Mieu...mieu...Mieu…"

A few seconds later, he popped out of the bag and sat on top of his Master's shoulder. "He says that it's about twenty minutes away at this speed."

His eyes narrow and his grip over the beast's mane tightened. "I'm coming guys. Be safe till then."

* * *

**Things start to take minor changes here, but eventually the storyline will evolve and go into another direction soon enough...if I continue to write this.**


End file.
